Shoe-heel



E. S. HELWITZ.

SHOE H'EEL.

APPLICATION FILED Aue.2'o, I911- RENEWED NOV. 12, 1919.

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Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J ly 13, 1920 Applicationfiled August 20, 1917, Serial No. 187,110. Renewed Noveml er lg, 1919.Serial No. 837,623.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ELLIS S. HELWITZ, a subject of the King of'GreatBritain, and a resident of the city of New York borough of Brooklyn, inthe county of Kings and State of New York have invented a new itsfeatures are suitable to heels of various other patterns.

The object of the invention is to construct the pad in very durable andeconomical form and to make it attachable to the. leather heel withoutthe use of screws, tacks or other devices driven into the heel so thatthe pad girth which is used in the construction of the heel pad.

Fig. 2 is a plan view, of the bottom binder sheet which is combined withthe girth.

Fig. 3 is a view showing a mold part corresponding to the form of aFrench heel with the girth and binder sheet in the position which theyassume before the operation of vulcanizing the rubber compound on themold part.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view showing the complete heel in section.

Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view of the same.

Fig. 6 shows a manner of combining in one part the girth and bindersheet of Figs. 1 and 2 in a single piece of material.

Fig. 7 is a bottom plan view of a modified form of the invention; and

Fig. 8 is a vertical longitudinal section on the line 8-8 of Fig. 7.

Referring first to Fig. 4, it shows an enlarged section of the finishedproduct. 10

is the padproper which is formed of a rubber compound, elastic ofcourse, but pref-.

erably made as tough and-wear resisting as posslble. 11 indicates thinelastic uprising walls also of rubber compound designed to embracethesides of the heel and hold the pad -in place by contracting against'it.

These uprisingwalls 11 are preferably made a of a more elastic compoundthan that of the bottom 10 so that the pad willbe more securely held inplace though this is not essential. The cross hatch portions 12 areintended'to illustrate the union between the difi'erent compoundslO and11 if such compounds are employed though it should .be distinctly,understood that my invention is not limited to this diversity ofcompounds and the parts 10 and 11 may, if desired, be made of the samecomposition of rubber or other equivalent material.

The bottom of the pad 10 is formed with a number of cavities 10 which Iterm suction cups, these being open to the pavement or surface on whichthe wearer walks with the pad and directly opposite these cavities 10*,onv the upper side of the pad 10, corresponding projections 10 areformed so that when the pressure of the leather or wooden heel of theshoe is exerted on the projections 10" the pad 10 is flexed, thecavities 10 are opened and thereby exert a suction on the pavement whichwill make the wearer of the W heel pad sure-footed and prevent slippinNow for the purpose of firmly unitm all of the parts of the elastic heelpad especlally preventing the walls 11 from being torn away from the padproper 10, I employ the binder sheet 13 and the girth 14 of Figs. 1'

and 2. These are preferably made of rubberized elastic cloth. The bindersheet 13 is laid on top of the pad 10 while the girth 14 is foldedapproximately along the dotted line 14 of Fig. 1, so that part. of itlies on top of the pad 10 and the serrated or notched upper edge partlies inward .around the elastic walls 11. Fig. 3 illustrates these parts13 and 14 in position on the mold section 15 which corresponds exactlyto the shape of the well-known French heel. This is the position whichthe parts 13 and j 14 take immediately prior to the vulcanizing of therubber parts. The rubber parts are-then vulcanized over the parts 13 and-14 by any usual or well-known process and the vulcanizing molds arefurnished witha formation which will produce the cavities 10 andcorresponding projections 1O 11o c the pad all of which has been beforededemands and in which the tough wear-re sisting bottom 10 is providedandthe elastic side walls 11 which insure holding the pad in place. Thecavities 10 operatingas suction cups prevent slipping as described andthe girth 14 and binder sheet 13 being vulcaniz'ed in and becoming apermanent part .of the pad structure greatly increase its,

strength and durability and prevent tearing of the rubber. In thisconnection it should be noted that the serrated or notched upper edge ofthe girth 14 adapts itself to the inwardly curving and tapering form .ofthe walls 11 and while furnishing all of the rein- I force that isnecessary does not seriously detract from elasticity of these wallswhich is necessary to the realization of their intended function. e

Fig. 6 shows a slightly different and indeed preferable manner offorming the rubberized elastic cloth reinforce, according to which theparts shown in'Figs. 1 and 2 are made in one integral section and somesaving of material and labor thereby attained. 13 indicates the basepart or binder sheet and 14 indicates the equivalent ofthe girth whichare simply tapered projections from the edges of the sheet 13 but formedintegrally therewith and adapted to be folded up into a vertical orinclined position approximately along the dotted or broken line aindicated in Fig. 6. The projections 14 are triangular in form but thereare two other pro ections 14 which are double triangles or diamondshaped and are adapted to be folded on the broken lines 141 so that theywill wrap around the front corners of the heel and conform to the shapethereof and overlap the next adjacent projections 14* all of which isprovided to allow aperfect fit of the pad to the heel andto prevent aclumsy and insecure construction.

From what has been said it will be appreciated that these rubber heelsor heel cushions .are'manufactured in different sizes to correspond withdiflerent sizes or types of shoe heels, having reference particularly,however, to what is known as the French heel. From Figs. 4: and 8 itwill be appreciated that'the bottom surface of the heel.

attachment is materially broader or carries more flare than the bottomsurface of the shoe heel without the attachment, hence in order tofacilitate the fitting of my attachments to any size of heel it isimportant that V the bottom of the space within the wall 11 shall be asnearly as possible the counterpart of the bottom of the heel without theattachment. In view of the considerable depth or flare at the bottom ofthe attachment or part 10 it is not always expedient for an ordinaryindividual to select a pair of attachment pads that are suitable for anyparticular pair of shoes and in th1s connection it must be borne in mindit is calculated that these heel pads are being put upon the marketwhere the general public have access to them for personal or privateattachment to their own shoes, therefore, it follows that it isdesirable that means be employed for the easy comparison of sizes of theattachments and the heels. To this end I provide, as shown at 10 anindicator mark or bead formed directly upon the bottom surface of thebase part 10 and directly beneath the boundary of the clear space withinthe attachment at the line of union between the wall 11 and the base. Inother words the bead 10 is intended to be an exact representation of thearea and shape of the bottom surface of the heel for which anyparticular pad is adapted to fit. The customer thereby by placingthe'bottom surface of a' pad directly to the bottom of'her heel can seeimmediately whether it is the right size or not. While I believe it isnew, as well as of great practical merit for the bottom of the hereindescribed shoe heel or heel tip as an article of manufacture to beprovided on its bottom surface with amark indicating the area and formof the heel for which the tip is intended, I wish to call especialattention to the fact that said mark in the form of a bead is preferablylocated on the bottom of the tip directly below the periphery of theheel or as a downward projectionof the boundary line between the heeland the elastic wall for the followin reason: It is obwhich a singleprojection is formed in the center of the upper part of the base at 15and the same is surrounded by a groove 15". On the bottom of the base isformed a projection 16 surrounded by a groove 16, the projections 15 and16 being one above the other. The projection 16 may be faced, ifdesired, with any suitable wear resisting element 17 to increase thedurability of the pad especially with respect to the rotation of thefoot around the center of the heel as a pivot.

I claim:

1. A rubber heel pad with a bottom portion and upstanding elastic wallsfor the purpose specified, and a fabric inset in said parts to increasethe strength thereof, the fabric extending up with the elastic walls,and such upwardly extending part of the fabric being slitted to preventinterference with the elasticity of the walls.

2. A rubber heel pad with a bottom portion and upstanding walls for thepurpose specified and a fabric reinforce com rising a binder sheet tolie over the top of t e bottom portion of the pad and serratedupstanding projections at the edges of the binder sheet united with thesaid elastic walls to strengthen the same without interferin with theirelasticity.

3. is an article of manufacture, an elastic tip for a French heel, saidtip comprising a resilient base and contractible means pro-'ecting'upwardly therefrom to embrace the eel to hold the tip thereon,the bottom of the base bearing an indicator to show the precise area andform of the bottom surface of the heel for which the tip is adapted.

4. The herein described resilient pad for shoe heels, the samecomprising a resilient base adapted to be applied directly against andconform in size to the bottom surface of the shoe heel, means'to securethe pad to and the bee ELLIS S. HELWITZ.

